Choosing the Date and Time of a Baby Naming Ceremony

When picking a date and time for the celebration, you should take a few factors into consideration:

The health of the new mother and baby – Take into account the mother and baby’s physical state after birth. It is very possible that the new mother will feel fine and up to ‘hosting’ a crowd already a few days after birth, but it is also possible that she won’t feel up to this even a few weeks after. It is recommended that you hold the ceremony within 30 (or according to certain traditions, 80) days, the period in which Jewish tradition still views the woman as a ‘woman who has just given birth’, and which medical literature and modern psychology consider a quasi ‘fourth trimester’ of pregnancy.

When you will be naming the baby – If you plan to name your daughter at a public ceremony and you will be keeping the name secret until then, it would be advisable to set a date that is no later than 2-3 weeks after birth. If you didn’t decide on a name during the pregnancy, make sure you leave yourselves enough time to choose a name.

Days with special significance – If you wish to have the ceremony on a day of traditional significance, you can choose one of the following days:

The first ShabbatShabbat is the Sabbath day, the Day of Rest, and is observed from Friday night through Saturday night. Is set aside from the rest of the week both in honor of the fact that God rested on the seventh day after creating the world. On Shabbat, many Jews observe prohibitions from various activities designated as work. Shabbat is traditionally observed with festive meals, wine, challah, prayers, the reading and studying of Torah, conjugal relations, family time, and time with friends. after birth – a day on which the naming commonly takes place;

The eighth day after birth – the day on which a male infant is circumcised. This choice of day also creates a parallel to other Jewish lifecycle ceremonies, which confer special significance to the first seven days of celebration or mourning;

The fifteenth day after birth – the day on which the woman, according to Scripture, returns to society;

The thirty-first day after birth – the day on which, according to tradition, the immediate danger to the health of the newborn has passed, and on which the ceremony of the Redemption of the First Born takes place;

The first day of the new Jewish month that follows the birth – Rosh ChodeshThe new moon, which marks the beginning of the Jewish month. According to tradition, because women did not participate in the sin of the golden calf, they were given the holiday of Rosh Chodesh. It is customary for women not to work on Rosh Chodesh. is considered by Jewish tradition a women’s festival.

There are certain days, such as HolocaustThe genocide of millions of European Jews--as well as other ethnic, religious and minority groups--by the Nazis during World War II. The tragic events of the Holocaust are now commemorated each year on Yom HaShoah; established in 1952 by the Israeli government. Shoah (calamity) has become the term used to describe the systemic mass slaughter that occurred during World War II. Remembrance Day, Israel’s Remembrance Day for Soldiers, the days in between the 17th of Tamuz and Tisha B’avThe holiday on which the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem is commemorated through fasting and prayers., and the days of Sefirat Haomer [counting the Omer] after PesachPassover is a major Jewish holiday that commemorates the Jewish people's liberation from slavery and Exodus from Egypt. Its Hebrew name is Pesakh. Its name derives from the tenth plague, in which God "passed over" the homes of the Jewish firstborn, slaying only the Egyptian firstborn. Passover is celebrated for a week, and many diaspora Jews celebrate for eight days. The holiday begins at home at a seder meal and ritual the first (and sometimes second) night. Jews tell the story of the Exodus using a text called the haggadah, and eat specific food (matzah, maror, haroset, etc)., on which it is not customary to make personal celebrations because they are days of national/historical mourning. If some of your guests do not drive on Shabbat and festivals – take that into consideration as well.